Multi-Stage Opening and Dispensing Closure

ABSTRACT

Described is a multi-stage opening and dispensing closure including a base portion configured to couple the closure to a container and including a first opening having a first diameter, an intermediate portion hingedly coupled to the base portion and including a second opening having a second diameter, and a cap portion configured to couple to the intermediate portion. Also described is a container including a body having at least one wall defining an internal cavity, a neck coupled to the body and defining an opening for access to the internal cavity, and a v-shaped seal coupled to a rim of the neck. Other embodiments may also be disclosed and claimed.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a closure having a firstopening stage with an opening of a first diameter, and a second openingstage with an opening of a second diameter that is smaller than thefirst diameter.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many products are packaged in containers (e.g., bottles) having flip-topclosures. Typically, a flip-top closure is coupled to the opening ofcontainer, and when the lid is flipped open, the spout is revealed. Thespout allows the product contained within the container to be poured outof the container. The lid may then be flipped closed to plug the spoutto prevent spillage.

Although the conventional flip-top closure may be suitable for variousapplications, there may be situations in which the spout provides a pourrate that is less than desirable. Applications in which only a smallamount of the product is needed, a spout may be too large, requiringcontrolled pouring to prevent over-pour. On the other hand, ahigh-volume pour may be needed in cases of a large amount of the productbeing needed. If the spout is fairly small, a high-volume pour mayrequire more time to pour out the required amount of product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure provides a multi-stage opening and dispensingclosure comprising a base portion configured to couple the closure to acontainer and including a first opening having a first diameter, anintermediate portion hingedly coupled to the base portion and includinga second opening having a second diameter, and a cap portion configuredto couple to the intermediate portion. The first diameter may be largerthan the second diameter.

The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure may include a v-shapedseal coupled to the bottom side of the base portion, the v-shaped sealbeing configured to abut a rim of an opening of the container.

The present disclosure also provides a container comprising a bodyhaving at least one wall defining an internal cavity, a neck coupled tothe body and defining an opening for access to the internal cavity, anda v-shaped seal coupled to a rim of the neck.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in theconcluding portion of the specification. The foregoing and otherfeatures of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent fromthe following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict onlyseveral embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are,therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosurewill be described with additional specificity and detail through use ofthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a multi-stage opening and dispensingclosure, in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentdisclosure, wherein the closure is in a closed position;

FIG. 2 shows another perspective view of the closure of FIG. 1, inaccordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure, whereinthe closure is in an open position exposing multiple openings;

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the closure of FIG. 1, inaccordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure,corresponding to the view of FIG. 2, wherein the closure is in an openposition exposing multiple openings;

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a multi-stage opening anddispensing closure having removably coupled cap and intermediateportions, in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a multi-stage opening anddispensing closure without pour spouts, in accordance with a thirdembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the closure of FIG. 1 and acontainer, in accordance with various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, wherein the closure is shown in a closed position, butremoved from the container;

FIG. 7 shows a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the opening portionof the container of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of an example package including acontainer and a closure, in accordance with various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, wherein the closure is shown in a closed position,but removed from the container, and wherein the container has a threadedfitment; and

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of an example package including acontainer and a closure, in accordance with various embodiments of thepresent disclosure wherein the closure is shown in a closed position,but removed from the container, and wherein the container has abayonet-type fitment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals referto like parts throughout. For ease of description, the components ofembodiments of the present invention are described in the normal(upright) operating position, and terms such as upper, lower,horizontal, etc., are used with reference to this position. It will beunderstood, however, that the components of embodiments of the presentinvention may be manufactured, stored, transported, used, and sold in anorientation other than the position described.

Figures illustrating the components of embodiments of the presentinvention show some conventional mechanical elements that may be knownand that may be recognized by one skilled in the art. The detaileddescriptions of such elements that are not necessary to an understandingof the invention, and accordingly are herein presented only to thedegree necessary to facilitate an understanding of the novel features ofthe present invention.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “comprising” isinclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional unrecitedelements, compositional components, or method steps. Accordingly, theterm “comprising” encompasses the more restrictive terms “consistingessentially of” and “consisting of.”

It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appendedclaims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. Similarly, theuse of substantially any plural terms herein may be translated by thosehaving skill in the art from the plural to the singular as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A,B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended inthe sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention(e.g., “an apparatus having at least one of A, B, and C” would includebut not be limited to apparatuses that have A alone, B alone, C alone, Aand B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the artthat virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or morealternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings,should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including oneof the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, thephrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A”or “B” or “A and B.”

As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and allpurposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, allranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subrangesand combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easilyrecognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range beingbroken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths,tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein canbe readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third,etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all languagesuch as “up to,” “at least,” “greater than,” “less than,” and the likeinclude the number recited and refer to ranges which can be subsequentlybroken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will beunderstood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individualmember. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 elements refers to groupshaving 1, 2, or 3 elements. Similarly, a group having 1-5 elementsrefers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 elements, and so forth.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which embodiments of the present invention pertain. Althougha number of methods and materials similar or equivalent to thosedescribed herein can be used in the practice of the present invention,the preferred materials and methods are described herein.

The term “container” or “bottle,” as used herein, is meant to mean andinclude any container for holding a fluid material. A container orbottle may be made of any suitable material, depending upon the producttherein. For example, a container or bottle may be made of plastic.

Broadly, embodiments of the present invention provide a multi-stageopening and dispensing closure for use with a container. The closureincludes a base portion configured to couple the closure to a containerand including a first opening having a first diameter, and anintermediate portion hingedly coupled to the base portion and includinga second opening having a second diameter. A cap portion is configuredto couple to the intermediate portion. Embodiments of the presentinvention also provide a v-shaped seal for sealing between a containerand a closure.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there are shown perspective views of anexample multi-stage opening and dispensing closure 100 in accordancewith various embodiments of the present disclosure. The closure 100 mayinclude a base portion 2, an intermediate portion 4, and a cap portion6. The base portion 2 may be configured to couple the closure 100 to acontainer, and may include a first opening 8 having a first diameter.The intermediate portion 4 may be hingedly coupled to the base portion2, and may include a second opening 10 having a second diameter.

The closure 100 may be configured to provide options for at least twopour rates. To that end, the first opening 8 and the second opening 10may be provided with different diameters (or opening sizes in the caseon non-circular openings), as shown. As noted above, the first opening8, for example, may be provided with a first diameter while the secondopening 10 may be provided with a second diameter. To facilitate twodifferent pour rates, the first diameter may be larger than the seconddiameter. To provide a high pour rate, the first opening 8 may be usedby flipping open the cap portion 6 and the intermediate portion 4 toexpose the first opening 8 of the base portion 2. To provide a pour ratethat is slower and more controlled, the second opening 10 may be used byflipping open only the cap portion 6, leaving the intermediate portion 4coupled to the base portion 2.

Although the illustrated embodiments depict a closure 100 including onlya first opening 8 and a second opening 10, it is contemplated that aclosure 100 within the scope of the present invention may include morethan two pour-rate options. For example, a closure may include a baseportion 2, a cap portion 6, and multiple intermediate portions 4, eachintermediate portion 4 having an opening 10 of various diameters.

Refer now to FIG. 3, with continued reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG.3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the closure 100 of FIG. 1 andFIG. 2. As shown, the intermediate portion 4 is coupled to the baseportion 2 by a hinge 22, and the cap portion 6 is coupled to theintermediate portion 4 by a hinge 26. As shown, the hinges 22, 26 may belocated on the same side of the closure 100. In various otherembodiments, the hinges 22, 26 may instead may located in differentlocations (i.e., not aligned with each other).

Although there may embodiments in which the base portion 2, theintermediate portion 4, and the cap portion 6 are integrally molded witheach other, for ease of manufacture, some embodiments may comprise theintermediate portion 4 (along with the hinge 22) being integrally moldedwith the base portion 2, while the cap portion 6 may be hingedly coupledto the intermediate portion 4 by a hinge pin 26. In various otherembodiments, the intermediate portion 4 may be integrally molded withthe cap portion 6, while the intermediate portion 4 is hingedly coupledto the base portion 2 by a hinge pin. In still further embodiments, thecap portion 6, the intermediate portion 4, and the base portion 2 (andtheir corresponding hinges) may all be integrally molded as one piece.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a multi-stage opening anddispensing closure having removably coupled cap portion 6 andintermediate portion 4. Rather than hingedly coupling the intermediateportion 4 to the base portion 2 and/or the intermediate portion 4 to thecap portion 6, the cap portion 6 may be removably coupled to theintermediate portion 4 and/or the intermediate portion 4 may beremovably coupled to the base portion 2.

A pour spout 12 may be coupled to one or both of the openings 8, 10 tofacilitate dispensing of fluid product from the openings 8, 10. Ingeneral, a pour spout 12 may provide for a more directed flow of productfrom the opening 8 or 10. In various embodiments, one or both of theintermediate portion 4 and the base portion 2 may exclude a pour spout.FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a multi-stage opening anddispensing closure without pour spouts.

For embodiments including the pour spout 12 on the opening 8 of the baseportion, a plug 14 may extend downwards from to bottom side 18 of theintermediate portion 4 toward a top side 24 of the base portion 2, asshown. The plug 14 may be shaped to correspond to the shape of the firstopening 8 such that when base portion 2 is capped by the intermediateportion 4, the plug 14 seals the first opening 8 while allowing flow ofproduct to the second opening 10. The cap portion 6 may also include aplug 20 for sealing the second opening 10.

One or both of the intermediate portion 4 and the cap portion 6 mayinclude gripping features 36, 38, respectively, to facilitate flippingopen the intermediate portion 4 and the cap portion 6. In general, thefeatures 36, 38 may allow a user to push against the features 36, 38 tomanually lift the intermediate portion 4 and the cap portion 6,respectively.

The closure 100 may be configured to be coupled to a container. As shownin FIG. 3, the closure 100 may include an attachment connector 32 on thebottom side of the base portion 2. The attachment connector 32 may be athreaded connector, as shown, configured to couple the closure 100 to acontainer having a threaded fitment. Alternatively, the attachmentconnector 32 may be a bayonet-type connector or snap-fit connectorconfigured to couple the closure 100 to a container having abayonet-type fitment or snap-fit fitment, respectively.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example package 400 in accordance with variousembodiments of the present invention. The package 400 includes acontainer 26 and the closure 100 described herein. The base portion 2 ofthe closure 100 may be configured to couple the closure 100 to the neck28 of the container 26.

The container 26 may generally be any sort of conventional containerincluding, for example, a bottle. As shown, the container 26 maycomprise a body 40 having at least one wall 42 defining an internalcavity 44. A neck 28 may be coupled to the body 40, and may define anopening for access to the internal cavity 44.

The container 26 may include a v-shaped seal 34 coupled to a rim of theneck 28 of the container 26, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. The seal 34may be an elastomeric material or the like to provide a leak-resistantseal with the closure 100. As shown, as the seal 34 is v-shaped, oneside of the seal 34 is a continuous channel, while the other side of theseal 34 is a continuous ring. The side of the seal 34 having the channelmay be coupled to the rim of the neck 28 of the container 26 such thatat least a portion of the rim is disposed within the continuous channel.In this configuration, when the closure 100 is coupled to the container26, the bottom side of the closure 100 abuts the side of the seal 34having the continuous ring to provide a leak-resistant seal.

Alternatively, the seal 34 may instead be coupled to the bottom side ofthe closure 100 such that the bottom side of the closure 100 abuts andis coupled to the side of the seal 34 having the continuous ring (notillustrated). In this configuration, when the closure 100 is coupled tothe container 26, the rim of the neck 28 of the container 26 abuts theside of the seal 34 having the continuous channel to provide aleak-resistant seal.

As discussed herein, the closure 100 may include an attachment connector32 (FIG. 3) configured to couple the closure 100 to the container 26.The container 26 may be complementarily configured to couple to theattachment connector 32 of the container 100. As shown, for example, thecontainer 26 may include a threaded fitment 46 for coupling to athreaded attachment connector 32 of the closure 100. Alternatively, thecontainer 26 may include a bayonet-type or snap-fit fitment for couplingthe container 26 to a closure 100 have a complementary attachmentconnector 32.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a container 26 and complementarily configuredclosure 100, in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, thecontainer 26 may include a threaded fitment 46 for coupling to athreaded attachment connector 32 of the closure 100.

Alternatively, FIG. 9 shows another example of a container 26 andcomplementarily configured closure 100, in accordance with variousembodiments. As shown, the container 26 may include a bayonet-typefitment 48 for coupling the container 26 to a closure 100 have acomplementary bayonet-type attachment connector 50.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopeand spirit being indicated by the appended claims.

1. A multi-stage opening and dispensing closure comprising: a baseportion configured to couple the closure to a container and including afirst opening having a first diameter; an intermediate portion hingedlycoupled to the base portion and including a second opening having asecond diameter; and a cap portion configured to couple to theintermediate portion.
 2. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closureof claim 1, wherein the first diameter is larger than the seconddiameter.
 3. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure of claim 1,wherein the base portion further comprises a pour spout coupled to thefirst opening.
 4. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure ofclaim 1, wherein the intermediate portion further comprises a pour spoutcoupled to the second opening.
 5. The multi-stage opening and dispensingclosure of claim 1, wherein the cap portion is hingedly coupled to theintermediate portion.
 6. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closureof claim 5, wherein the cap portion is hingedly coupled to theintermediate portion by a hinge pin.
 7. The multi-stage opening anddispensing closure of claim 5, wherein the cap portion is removablycoupled to the intermediate portion.
 8. The multi-stage opening anddispensing closure of claim 1, wherein the intermediate portion isintegrally molded with the base portion.
 9. The multi-stage opening anddispensing closure of claim 1, wherein the intermediate portion ishingedly coupled to a top side of the base portion, and wherein a bottomside, opposite the top side, of the base portion is configured to couplethe closure to the container.
 10. The multi-stage opening and dispensingclosure of claim 9, further comprising a v-shaped seal coupled to thebottom side of the base portion, the v-shaped seal being configured toabut a rim of an opening of the container.
 11. The multi-stage openingand dispensing closure of claim 10, wherein the v-shaped seal includes afirst side having a continuous channel, and a second side having acontinuous ring.
 12. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure ofclaim 11, wherein the second side of the v-shaped seal is coupled tobottom side of the base portion, and wherein the first side of thev-shaped seal is configured to abut the rim of the opening of thecontainer.
 13. The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure of claim1, wherein the base portion includes a bayonet-type connector configuredto couple the closure to a container having a bayonet-type fitment. 14.The multi-stage opening and dispensing closure of claim 1, wherein thebase portion includes a threaded connector configured to couple theclosure to a container having a threaded fitment.
 15. The multi-stageopening and dispensing closure of claim 1, wherein the base portion andthe intermediate portion are coupled by a first hinge, wherein theintermediate portion and the cap portion are coupled by a second hinge,and wherein the first hinge and the second hinge are disposed on a sameside of the closure.
 16. A container comprising: a body having at leastone wall defining an internal cavity; a neck coupled to the body anddefining an opening for access to the internal cavity; and a v-shapedseal coupled to a rim of the neck, wherein the v-shaped seal includes afirst side having a continuous channel, and a second side having acontinuous ring.
 17. The container of claim 16, wherein the continuouschannel is coupled to the rim of the neck such that at least a portionof the rim is disposed within the continuous channel.
 18. The containerof claim 15, wherein the neck includes a bayonet-type fitment.
 19. Thecontainer of claim 15, wherein the neck includes a threaded fitment. 20.The container of claim 11, wherein the neck includes a snap-fit fitment.